Nov. 25, 2009
EASTON, Pa. -
Game Notes 
GAME 6 • November 28, 2009
Matchup: Lafayette (4-1) at Georgetown (3-0)
Tip-off: Noon
Site: Washington, D.C.
Arena: Verizon Center (20,600)
Radio: WSAN-AM Fox 1470 • Dick Hammer
TV: MASN (Jason Knapp, PxP • Mark Tillmon, Color)
Internet: GoLeopards.com
Series: 14th Meeting
First Meeting: LC: 36-26 (2/8/1918)
Last Meeting: GU: 65-60, (12/26/1979)
Last Lafayette Win: 71-65 (1/14/1961)
Fran O'Hanlon vs. Georgetown: 0-0
MATCH UP: Lafayette (4-1) will take on No. 18/19 Georgetown (3-0) in the Verizon Center on Saturday in a noon tip-off. While the two schools meet in football each season, the two basketball programs have not played each other since 1979.
LAST TIME OUT: Lafayette won its third straight, storming out to a 22-point lead in the first half against Hartford and then having to grind out a 86-82 victory in the closing minutes. The Leopards were led by Jared Mintz (18 pts., 10 reb.) and Darion Benbow (15 pts. 8 reb.) and a combined 10 three-pointers by five different players.
SOLID START: The Leopards are 4-1 for the first time since 2003-04 when Lafayette began the season 6-1. Lafayette finished 18-10 that season.
VERSUS RANKED TEAMS: The last time Lafayette faced a ranked team was
Feb. 15, 2006 in conference play against No. 24 Bucknell. The Leopards lost 69-49. The last time Lafayette beat a nationally ranked team was Dec. 2, 1978 when Lafayette took down No. 6 Rutgers, 77-70.
DOUBLE YOUR PLEASURE: Junior forward Jared Mintz has been the Leopards' go-to guy during the 2009-10 season. Mintz's hard work in the off season has led to increased output on both ends of the floor. The junior already has a pair of double-doubles, contributing 20 points and 10 rebounds in the season opener vs. Wagner and following up with 18 and 10 against Hartford on Wednesday. Mintz now has four double-doubles for his career.
MINTZ, FROM THE FLOOR: Jared Mintz has put up big numbers in the scoring column from the Leopards and has done it quite efficiently. Mintz is shooting 69 percent from the floor (33-of-48) for the season which includes a 9-of-9 night at St. Francis (Pa.), an 8-of-10 stint at NJIT and a 6-of-7 performance vs. Hartford. Mintz's season-worst performance came against Sacred Heart when he was
4-of-12, coincidentally Lafayette's only loss. If you exclude that game from his shooting percentage, he is converting 81 percent from the field.
D.C. DANDIES: Though players from 11 states and three countries are represented on Lafayette's roster, the Leopards feature three from the geographic cluster that is the D.C. Metro area. Prior to arriving on College Hill, three of Lafayette's guards attended schools within 25 miles of the nation's capital. Michael Gruner shined at Walt Whitman High School, where he led his team to a state championship. Junior Ben Wheeler played at Chantilly where he garnered first team all-district and second team all-region accolades his senior year. Sophomore Nick Petkovich is the most recent addition from the D.C. area, an All-IAC Conference First-Team selection from Bullis Prep.
SIX...IS GOOD: The Leopards had six players score in double figures against Hartford on Tuesday night. Jared Mintz led the way with 18, followed Darion Benbow (career-high 15), Michael Gruner (13), Jim Mower (13), Jeff Kari (10) and Ryan Willen (10). The last time Lafayette had six players score in double figures, including all five starters, was Nov. 28, 2007 in an 81-69 win over Penn. Gruner is the only Lafayette player to have been scored 10+ in both of those games.
In games against Wagner and St. Francis (Pa.), Lafayette had four players score in double figures.
LEADING THE LEAGUE: Jared Mintz has taking an early lead in the Patriot League statistical standings, sitting first field goal percentage (68.8%) and second in scoring (18.6 ppg) (as of Nov. 24). He is also third from the line (87.1%). Sophomore Jim Mower is also making his name known, ranking first in free throw percentage (92.9%) and third in three-point percentage (47.6).
Lafayette has led the league in five categories: scoring offense (78.8 ppg), scoring margin (+6.0), field goal percentage (51.5%), free throw percentage (75.7%) and turnover margin (+1.0).
Meet the Captains: Senior guards Jeff Kari and Mike Gruner are holding leadership roles for the 2009-10 season. Kari, who served as a co-captain last year, is the team's top returning scorer (10.7 ppg). Gruner started in 19 games last year and accounted for 61 assists.
100 AND STILL GOING: What do North Carolina basketball and Lafayette basketball have in common? For both teams, the 2009-10 season marks the 100th season of men's basketball.
198...AND COUNTING: Lafayette head coach Fran O'Hanlon needs two wins to reach the 200-win plateau.
ON THE SIDELINE: The all-time winningest coach in Lafayette history and longest-tenured coach in the Patriot League, Fran O'Hanlon (Villanova, '70) enters his 15th season as the Leopards' head coach. A two-time Patriot League Coach of the Year recipient, O'Hanlon has twice led Lafayette's program to the NCAA Tournament and lays claim to three Patriot League regular-season titles.
With a 75-71 double-overtime victory over Lehigh on Feb. 18, 2007, O'Hanlon became the winningest coach in Lafayette history and now holds an all-time record of 198-211 on College Hill.
O'Hanlon's overall record does not necessarily tell an accurate story of the job he has done at Lafayette. The Philadelphia native inherited a 2-25 team when he took over in 1995-96 and won seven, 11, 19, 22 and 24 games over the next five seasons. From 1997-2000, Lafayette was 65-24 overall and 31-5 in the conference with two NCAA Tournament appearances. In 1996, the Patriot League, which was originally founded based on the principle of need-based financial aid only, began allowing athletic scholarships. However, it was not until 2006 that Lafayette chose to do so. By no coincidence, during that span, Lafayette posted a 79-91 mark and was 38-44 in the league.
NEXT UP: Lafayette will host its final doubleheader of the season when the Leopards welcome St. Peter's to Kirby Sports Center on Tuesday for an 8:30 p.m. tip off. The Lafayette women play Mount St. Mary's at 6 p.m. to kick off the night.
Scouting Georgetown: No. 18/19 Georgetown comes into Saturday's match-up sitting at 3-0 following a 63-44 victory over Savannah State. That win was preceded by victories over Tulane (74-58) and Temple (46-45). Against Savannah State, sophomore guard Jason Clark scored a career-high 14 points, connecting on 4-of-5 three-pointers. He is one of four players averaging double figures for the Hoyas at 11.7 ppg and is the team's seecond-leading rebounder (5.7 rpg).
Joining Clark in the backcourt are junior guards Chris Wright (12.3 ppg) and Austin Freeman (12.7 ppg).
In the middle is sophomore center Greg Monroe who is approaching a double-double every time out with 14.0 points and nine rebounds per game. Junior forward Julian Vaughn rounds out the starting five (3.7 ppg, 4.7 rpg).
The Hoyas have limited opponents' ability to score so far this season, surrendering just 49 ppg while opponents have shot 33 percent.
Last season, Georgetown made its fifth-straight postseason appearance, advancing to the NIT where the team lost to eventual runner-up Baylor. The Hoyas finished the season
16-15 overall and were 7-11 in Big East play.
John Thompson III is in his sixth season at Georgetown and ninth in head coaching. Prior to Georgetown, he coached four seasons at his alma mater, Princeton, and holds an overall head-coaching record of 187-93. Thompson is 2-1 coaching versus the Leopards while at Princeton with meetings in 2000, 2001 and 2002.
FRESH IMPACT: Freshman Tony Johnson has begun to make an impact on the court for the Leopards. Johnson is averaging 18.6 minutes per game and has nine assists to seven turnovers, solid numbers for a freshman who has been asked to handle the ball a lot. Johnson is also third on the team in steals and rebounding. Johnson, a 6-0 guard, hails from Folsom, Calif. and is the only true point guard on the team.
Fellow first-year player Levi Giese has seen action in all five games while averaging 2.0 points and 1.0 rebounds per game. A 6-9 forward, Giese comes from Tulsa, Okla. and brings solid perimeter skills.
FRESH FACES: Head coach Fran O'Hanlon added two new coaches to his staff this season. Pat Doherty is a familiar face to the Lafayette program, graduating from Lafayette in 2004. Doherty was an assistant coach at Williams College in 2008-09, helping lead Williams to a 17-9 overall record. In 2007-08 Doherty served as an assistant coach at The College of New Jersey (TCNJ).
Matt Blue holds down the final assistant coaching spot. Blue, a 2007 graduate of St. Lawrence comes to Lafayette after spending the 2008-09 season at Susquehanna University in Selinsgrove, Pa. He helped lead the Crusaders to an 18-8 overall mark and a 13-3 finish in the Landmark Conference.
THE PRESEASON POLL: Lafayette was chosen to finish eighth in the Patriot League Preseason Poll. The poll is voted on by the conference head coaches and sports information directors. Holy Cross was picked to finish first with 13 first place votes, followed by Lehigh, Bucknell, Army, Colgate, American and Navy.
AROUND THE WORLD: Four international players are featured on the roster for tonight's matchup? Lafayette boasts three international players in Jared Mintz (Toronto, Canada), Marek Koltun (Krakow, Poland) and Deirunas Visockas (Lithuania), while Georgetown has Nikita Mescheriakov (Minski, Belarus), brother of former Atlantic 10 standout at George Washington, Egor.
BASKETBALL IQ: Lafayette placed a program-best three student-athletes on the Patriot League Academic Honor Roll during the 2008-09 season. The distinction recognizes those individuals who have earned a varsity letter and maintained a 3.2 GPA during the spring semester. Senior Michael Gruner and sophomores Rob Delaney and Andy Moore each earned a nod.
IN THE RANKS: Seven of Lafayette's non-conference opponents were picked to finish within the top five of their respective leagues in the preseason polls. At No. 2, Long Island and Princeton are the highest ranked non-conference opponents the Leopards will face. Lafayette will tip off against six opponents from the Northeast Conference -- the most of any one conference on the Leopards' schedule.
GRUNER GETS IT DONE: If senior Michael Gruner picks up where he left off last season, the Leopards will be in pretty good shape. Gruner has been a mainstay in the lineup the past two seasons. In 2008-09, he proved to be Lafayette's steadiest ballhandler, dishing out 61 assists to 44 turnovers for a 1.4 assist/turnover ratio and 196 points (8.2 ppg). Gruner is also a Marquis Scholar, the college's most prestigious academic scholarship.
This season, Gruner is contributing 9.4 points, 1.6 rebounds and 1.8 assists per game. He had a standout performance against Saint Francis with 17 points and hit a running banked three-pointer before half to pad the halftime lead to 42-33. Gruner also chipped in with 10 points and four assists vs. Hartford.
Coming out of high school in Bethesda, Md., Gruner led his Walt Whitman squad to the Maryland 4A state title while earning Gazette Co-Player of the Year honors along with the NBA's 2007-08 Rookie of the Year Kevin Durant of Montrose Christian.
SUPER SOPHOMORE: Sophomore forward Ryan Willen was named to the Patriot League All-Rookie team in 2008-09. He was the first freshman since Andrew Brown '09 and the seventh freshman in school history to earn the accolade.
This season, Willen is the Leopards' third leading scorer, averaging 10.6 points per game, is shooting 59 percent from the floor and 71.4 percent from the line. In addition to his work on the court, Willen is currently enrolled in organic chemistry, ethics, introduction to psychology, religions in world cultures and two labs.
LAFAYETTE ON TELEVISION: The Leopards will have 13 of their regular-season games televised during the 2009-10 season. The Leopards will also lead the Patriot League with seven nationally-televised games, as MASN (available through both DIRECTV and DISH Network) will air Lafayette's entire slate of home league contests on a tape-delay basis. Emmy-nominated local sports broadcaster Gary Laubach will handle all of Lafayette's play-by-play duties for the 13th straight season. Former Lafayette men's basketball coach John Leone will provide color analysis for the 11th season.
ON THE RADIO: The road games of the 2009-10 Lafayette men's basketball season will air on WSAN-AM 1470 "The Fox." Entering his 43nd season as the radio voice of Lafayette athletics, Dick Hammer will continue to call the play-by-play action. Joining Hammer courtside for most contests will be Lafayette Sports Information Director Phil LaBella.
